01/23/06 Cattlemen v. media on ID disclosure

Washington Ag January 23, 2006 The state's livestock industry is running into opposition from the press to legislation that would exempt information collected for an animal identification system from public disclosure laws. Washington Cattlemen's Association executive vice president Jack Field spoke at a livestock ID seminar at last week's Pacific Northwest Farm Forum in Spokane. Field: "Animal ID numbers, movement information, premise information and voluntarily submitted testing information is in no way intended for public disclosure. The press argues very loudly they feel that if this information is going to be collected anywhere, they have a right to know. I don't think they have a right to know. To me it is no different than them opening their checkbook and walking through the financials with anybody to take a look at the circulation of their paper." Field said producers interested in the disclosure exemption should contact their state legislators and urge passage of House Bill 2651. He said five states already have exempted animal ID information from disclosure with neighboring Idaho being one. The Washington State Department of Agriculture is currently registering premise ID numbers for the animal identification system but that registration is voluntary at this time. I'm Bob Hoff.